Ashes 2015

skippymac6

skippymac6 wrote: »

Wood with the breakthrough getting Rodgers but it's a no ball!!

Rodgers gone this time as Stokes gets him with Root taking a great catch. Stokes is really bowling well this afternoon.

byronbay2

skippymac6 wrote: »

Rodgers gone this time as Stokes gets him with Root taking a great catch. Stokes is really bowling well this afternoon.

Yeah, Stokes looking top-class since lunch. Horrible collapse from Australia now 136-4. Warner, Marsh and Smith all out to ridiculous shots. Who fancies Voges to make some runs??

alchemist33

And here comes the Aussie collapse...

bilston

Australia could be in a world of trouble if Rogers calls it quits after the Ashes. Maybe there is some young cub coming through but they will only have Warner and Smith left who you'd back to score big runs. Of course in Australian conditions the likes of Voges and Marsh could be different beasts but there could be a real low trough coming up for Australia if they aren't careful.

Of course they still have a lethal seam attack but they need a score to defend!

England on the other hand seem to be rebuilding nicely after the last year or two. Only Bell and Anderson are anywhere near the end of rheir careers and even at that they should both have a couple of years left. They still need a top level spinner though. Although Moen is a rather decent No.8 to have!

BarryD

Aussie morale must be rock bottom a this stage. They're heading for back door in a fierce rush.

vienne86

Who could have foreseen this after the second test? incredible stuff.

There'll be some right scurrying behind the scenes in Sky to fill a lot of TV time.

Harry Palmr

vienne86 wrote: »

Who could have foreseen this after the second test? incredible stuff.

There'll be some right scurrying behind the scenes in Sky to fill a lot of TV time.

They could do worse than simply reshow it ball by ball again! Plenty of people who were at work would like the chance to wallow in it I'm sure.

wilhelm roentgen

KABOOM!!

Well done lads

England have thoroughly deserved this series win, great to get the ashes back,now let's make it 4-1 at the Oval.

Lovely Bloke

Just got TMS on to catch the last wicket falling.

Harry Palmr

I trust the OT pitch will be as green as the other OT pitch!

Edit - Its the Oval last. Dunno why Old Trafford was in my head.

Dozen Wicked Words

So Michael Clarke has officially retired from international cricket, shame from his point of view how its finished.

Dozen Wicked Words

https://twitter.com/piersmorgan/status/606146754963062784

Harry Palmr

He really does just make you hate him doesn't he?

Mysterypunter

Poor standard

TrueDub

Mysterypunter wrote: »

Poor standard

Not sure what you're referring to?

Mysterypunter

Crumbly batting. Except for Joe Root.

riffmongous

Mysterypunter wrote: »

Crumbly batting. Except for Joe Root.

Yeah the averages speak for themselves, if not for Root and Rogers this would have been an awful series.

Mysterypunter

Its the time factor aswell. Nowhere near a fifth day in any of the matches. New Zealand v England was much better to watch.

bilston

Mysterypunter wrote: »

Its the time factor aswell. Nowhere near a fifth day in any of the matches. New Zealand v England was much better to watch.

That would suggest the issue lies with Australia.

In saying that this series has nothing on 2005 when you had the two best sides in the world or two of the best three (think SA) were up there then.

In 2015 you have two average teams, albeit teams going in a different trajectory. Both sides have excellent seam attacks but dodgy top orders.

Rjd2

It was a fun series to watch, but overall none of them had any tension and the result was obvious early on. Not what you want from the main attraction of a format struggling for relevance.

To be fair wasn't that competitive last time in Australia either:P

India v South Africa and South Africa v Australia which will never have the same appeal as the Ashes has provided much better and competitive test cricket in the last few years.

Who will ever forget Dale Steyn and Sachin Tendulkar both at their absolute peak going hard at each other ? Laxman's majestic 95 to beat South Africa and of course Ab De Villiers smashing a rampaging Mitchell Johnson as if he was Vinay Kumar.:p

booth70

Rjd2 wrote: »

It was a fun series to watch, but overall none of them had any tension and the result was obvious early on. Not what you want from the main attraction of a format struggling for relevance.

To be fair wasn't that competitive last time in Australia either:P

India v South Africa and South Africa v Australia which will never have the same appeal as the Ashes has provided much better and competitive test cricket in the last few years.

Who will ever forget Dale Steyn and Sachin Tendulkar both at their absolute peak going hard at each other ? Laxman's majestic 95 to beat South Africa and of course Ab De Villiers smashing a rampaging Mitchell Johnson as if he was Vinay Kumar.:p

India v Australia series I would say has been more of an even match last 20 years and add to the fact that most of the recent series between the 2 sides have been ill tempered affairs makes it more interesting to watch!!! ...... Think it's 15-15 apiece head to head last 20 years though the last few series between them have been totally lopsided in favour of the winner.....

For a neutral like me The Ashes makes for compelling viewing given the hype surrounding it... despite the one sidedness of the last few series..... and outside of a Test series not involving India would be the only series I'd set my alarm to!

Test cricket viewership is probably the lowest in SA of all the Big 4 countries and SA v Australia might have the least following of all the high profile series

SA v Eng coming up later this year will be a good test for both sides and Ind v SL starting shortly will be an indicator of whether Kohli has the temperament for the Test captaincy and whether India will be serious Test contenders in the near future

Lovely Bloke

Fifth and final test starting today, no Jimmy Anderson.

England have never won 4 Tests at home in Then Ashes (:eek:), so they'll be wanting to hammer Aus here, just as Aus would do the same. Also, England will move to second in the rankings if they win.

Seemingly The Oval pitch is very green.

Cricket fan

Good performance by the Aussies so far, 285/3. Voges finally showing some form, Smith on the verge of a 100 heading into the last 10 overs.

Kinda hope Clarke and Rogers get some landmark in the 2nd innings, Rogers especially is one of my favourite players these days, love an honest hard working grafter

vienne86

Didn't get to watch any cricket today, but looks like Australia batting is much better today.

BarryD

Decent total of 481 for Aussies in 1st innings. Be interesting to see how English batsmen fare with that total in front of them.

paulie21

66-4

BarryD

Hmm 107/8 - not so well it seems. England in deep doo-daa

Cricket fan

Every game this year has been so one sided

Eng thrash Aus
Aus humiliate Eng
Eng thrash Aus
Eng humiliate Aus
Aus thrashing Eng

booth70

The ICC should ban all dead rubbers going forward......cancel the last Test/s if the series has already been decided!!!.....makes for some pointless cricket like what we are seeing in the final Test:pac::pac:

bilston

England's batsmen were pathetic yesterday. Unless there is a turnaround in their attitude then this won't make a 4th day.

Mr. Guappa

bilston wrote: »

England's batsmen were pathetic yesterday. Unless there is a turnaround in their attitude then this won't make a 4th day.

Aside from Root and some wagging from Moeen their batting has been pretty soft all series. Excellent bowling in the 3 tests they won masked the fact that their batting line up is on rag order.

BarryD

Cricket fan wrote: »

Every game this year has been so one sided

Eng thrash Aus
Aus humiliate Eng
Eng thrash Aus
Eng humiliate Aus
Aus thrashing Eng

I guess one swallow never made a summer but you'd wonder if Eng & Aus batsmen are losing the skill and patience to bat in adversity against a big total.

Counter attack seems to be policy in force and when batsmen counter attack all the time, the balance of power inevitably shifts to the fielding side.

Is it the effects of limited overs cricket or just the present mindset?

BarryD

I suppose Clarke has made Eng follow-on with one eye on the weather. They have today and some of tomorrow to get the ten wickets before the rain enforces a draw.

Rjd2

BarryD wrote: »

Is it the effects of limited overs cricket or just the present mindset?

Bit of everything. Very few batsmen would you say are better limited overs batsmen than test batsmen. The likes of Cook, Lyth, Ballance, Rogers, Clarke, Voges, Nevill and Bell have made their money playing test cricket in the last few years.

Bairstow ? Played a lot of 4 day cricket in the last few years, can't blame limited overs cricket.

Buttler and Mitchell Marsh have looked out of their depth batting and yeah both of them could have done with having more 4 day experience at times this series.

Root however has played all white ball for cricket for England and he has been superb, heck the ability to keep the runs ticking a skill which is crucial in white ball cricket has really hurt Australia when he batted.

Warner is Warner, a player like that can only bat one way.

Who are we left with then?

Smith?

Has bombed a few times, but another who played a lot of shield cricket before he was brought back for Australia and to be fair has done well in every test tour before this.

Shaun Marsh I suppose you could point a finger at, he strikes me a lazy so and so, made his money in the IPL and has been to lazy in his test career.

BarryD

Only two wickets left to take - wonder if there'll be enough breaks in the rain for Aussies to finish this off?

Skid X

And so a very strange series comes to an end. Both teams showed far too much tendency to self destruct.

If this report is correct, BT Sport have won the rights to broadcast Australia's home matches (including the 2017/18 Ashes). That's a big blow to Sky subscribers

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/article-3208147/BT-Sport-grab-2017-18-Ashes-TV-rights-rivals-Sky-Sports-80m-coup.html

England’s cricketers were not the only ones celebrating an Ashes win on Sunday night — so were BT Sport, who have seized the rights to the 2017-18 series Down Under from arch-rivals Sky in a major coup.
In a move that demonstrates BT will challenge Sky strongly on the cricket field as well as on the football pitch, the network have secured the UK contract for Aussie home matches from Cricket Australia for the next five years.
It is believed to be costing them around £16million a year.

Cricket fan

Cricket just loves ******* the fans at every chance it gets doesnt it?

BarryD

Cricket fan wrote: »

Cricket just loves ******* the fans at every chance it gets doesnt it?

I think it's called churning the market

BarryD

DP

Rjd2

http://www.espncricinfo.com/the-ashes-2015/content/story/913013.html#all


Dire comments by Clarke moaning about the pitches, Australia need to learn how to bat outside their comfort zone. Its called home advantage. :rolleyes:

Rjd2

Cricket fan wrote: »

Cricket just loves ******* the fans at every chance it gets doesnt it?

BT getting involved is wonderful for sports moneymen, play them and sky off against each other and swim in the money.

Crap for fans though.:(

Dozen Wicked Words

I don't have any pay TV so I couldn't give a flyer who gets the coverage.

Cricket fan

Somethings gotta give at some point. Least before you paid one expensive sub for all the cricket you could ever want, now you need two unless you want to put up with streams.

And I'm having nightmares of Michael Owen commentating test cricket...........

Rjd2

Owen will be amazing.

"Mitchell Johnson has bowled a ball, it was a bad ball. Joe Root the batsman has hit it for 4 runs which he is happy with " etc

Imagine that at 4am along with Vaughan and Swann doing their banter act:(:D

Also

Top work by Kimber on Cook.


http://www.espncricinfo.com/the-ashes-2015/content/story/913001.html

Harry Palmr

Definitely a series to have had tickets for - but only the first three days, even first two!

Strange Ashes all round really, every victory/defeat was emphatic so its fair to say neither is terribly good or bad but definitely lacking stickablilty in any depth.

bilston

Rjd2 wrote: »

Also

Top work by Kimber on Cook.


http://www.espncricinfo.com/the-ashes-2015/content/story/913001.html

Great stuff.

KevIRL

Morgan and Ali going nuts in the T20

BarryD

Go Smith!

bilston

I didn't even know this was on today

dfx-

Rjd2 wrote: »

Also

Top work by Kimber on Cook.


http://www.espncricinfo.com/the-ashes-2015/content/story/913001.html

I'm a big fan of Kimber, but I found that a struggle to read through. It was just the same point over and over in short bursts